Back in April, I was seeing quite a few cats wandering the street where I live.
I live on a quiet, dead end street, facing a golf course, so there are no other houses on the other side of the street.
These cats are clearly wild, I'd seen 2 of them scraping it out in another backyard at one point. They were really going at it with each other.
One of the ferals came up to the front porch one day and I fed it. I was almost able to rub it's tummy until it got spooked off.
A few days later, another one came hopping into the backyard looking for food. This was in late April, very early May.
I decided to feed this cat, and try to get it to trust me enough to get it inside.
I thought the leg was broken, there was no way the cat was going to put weight on it.
A few days later, it was walking on it again, but a few days after that, I noticed puncture marks on the same leg.
I decided at that point that I wanted to help the cat, which I thought was a female.
I contacted a rescue agency, but they never bothered to respond. I contacted the "pound" and they refused to help.
About a week later, I contacted 4 rescue agencies and only one responded back, willing to help trap the cat.
They gave me a drop trap on Monday May 9th, in the hopes that the cat would go into it.
The cat, who I later found out was a male, wasn't seen until Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning, he was out there, I set the trap up, and went inside. I was on the phone when he walked into the trap and the door slammed down on the trap.
He was terrified and desperate to get out of it.
I struggled to get him inside the house, and when I did, he didn't want to get into the cage at all. He seemed almost content to stay in the trap.
I finally got him out of the trap and he cowered in the corner of the cage.
I put in the litterbox and some food and shut the cage. I left him to get settled in.
The next day I was almost able to touch him, but he constantly hissed at me, and even swiped at me.
I was able to see that his leg had been bitten by another animal. I was thankful that I finally had him inside.
I have a 2 week journal that I posted about his progress or lack thereof on another site, so there are more details in these daily postings.
On Saturday, we took him to the vet. He was given morphine to sedate him since he was hissing and swiping, and that was the first time I was able to touch him.
Even as the sedation was wearing off, he seemed to enjoy touch, but once it wore off, he was back to normal.
Xrays revealed a small break just under the elbow joint of his rear left leg, soft tissue damage as well from the bite he sustained.
He's on antibiotics. When I discovered that aspirin was a big no-no, I stopped giving him the little bit I was, I'm not trying to hurt him and don't want to do anymore harm to him.
3 days after the vet appointment, he's still being a sourpuss, not letting me near him.
But he loves his treats and catnip, so he gets that all the time.
He's fine with a fishing pole type toy touching him, in fact, he seems to enjoy the touch by it.
I don't know how long it will take for him to warm up to me, but I am aware that it will take time.
On to the kitten.
Last weekend, we were out in the front on Friday evening. We heard the kitten crying, and saw a black cat, but couldn't see the kitten.
The next morning, she was under my van with the black cat. My husband suggested that we try to trap her, and we set up the trap we still had from the rescue.
I got a call a few hours later from my husband saying that the kitten had been trapped.
She now lives down in the basement with our other roommates, and she's having a great time. Based on photos that I have provided(will post tomorrow), she seems to be about 4 weeks old.
She eats on her own and runs around like crazy, chasing anything that moves. She's been attacking human legs, seems to be something she loves to do.
She seems to be healthy, but I haven't even confirmed that she is a female, although she does look to be one.
Anyways, that's my rescue story. I hadn't planned on getting into cat rescues until Tiger, the injured male, came into my life and the rescue called me the foster parent.
This is going to be an interesting summer.
I live on a quiet, dead end street, facing a golf course, so there are no other houses on the other side of the street.
These cats are clearly wild, I'd seen 2 of them scraping it out in another backyard at one point. They were really going at it with each other.
One of the ferals came up to the front porch one day and I fed it. I was almost able to rub it's tummy until it got spooked off.
A few days later, another one came hopping into the backyard looking for food. This was in late April, very early May.
I decided to feed this cat, and try to get it to trust me enough to get it inside.
I thought the leg was broken, there was no way the cat was going to put weight on it.
A few days later, it was walking on it again, but a few days after that, I noticed puncture marks on the same leg.
I decided at that point that I wanted to help the cat, which I thought was a female.
I contacted a rescue agency, but they never bothered to respond. I contacted the "pound" and they refused to help.
About a week later, I contacted 4 rescue agencies and only one responded back, willing to help trap the cat.
They gave me a drop trap on Monday May 9th, in the hopes that the cat would go into it.
The cat, who I later found out was a male, wasn't seen until Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning, he was out there, I set the trap up, and went inside. I was on the phone when he walked into the trap and the door slammed down on the trap.
He was terrified and desperate to get out of it.
I struggled to get him inside the house, and when I did, he didn't want to get into the cage at all. He seemed almost content to stay in the trap.
I finally got him out of the trap and he cowered in the corner of the cage.
I put in the litterbox and some food and shut the cage. I left him to get settled in.
The next day I was almost able to touch him, but he constantly hissed at me, and even swiped at me.
I was able to see that his leg had been bitten by another animal. I was thankful that I finally had him inside.
I have a 2 week journal that I posted about his progress or lack thereof on another site, so there are more details in these daily postings.
On Saturday, we took him to the vet. He was given morphine to sedate him since he was hissing and swiping, and that was the first time I was able to touch him.
Even as the sedation was wearing off, he seemed to enjoy touch, but once it wore off, he was back to normal.
Xrays revealed a small break just under the elbow joint of his rear left leg, soft tissue damage as well from the bite he sustained.
He's on antibiotics. When I discovered that aspirin was a big no-no, I stopped giving him the little bit I was, I'm not trying to hurt him and don't want to do anymore harm to him.
3 days after the vet appointment, he's still being a sourpuss, not letting me near him.
But he loves his treats and catnip, so he gets that all the time.
He's fine with a fishing pole type toy touching him, in fact, he seems to enjoy the touch by it.
I don't know how long it will take for him to warm up to me, but I am aware that it will take time.
On to the kitten.
Last weekend, we were out in the front on Friday evening. We heard the kitten crying, and saw a black cat, but couldn't see the kitten.
The next morning, she was under my van with the black cat. My husband suggested that we try to trap her, and we set up the trap we still had from the rescue.
I got a call a few hours later from my husband saying that the kitten had been trapped.
She now lives down in the basement with our other roommates, and she's having a great time. Based on photos that I have provided(will post tomorrow), she seems to be about 4 weeks old.
She eats on her own and runs around like crazy, chasing anything that moves. She's been attacking human legs, seems to be something she loves to do.
She seems to be healthy, but I haven't even confirmed that she is a female, although she does look to be one.
Anyways, that's my rescue story. I hadn't planned on getting into cat rescues until Tiger, the injured male, came into my life and the rescue called me the foster parent.
This is going to be an interesting summer.